Different Mechanics????

Cheers for the very good overview Simmo.

I will try and hack some rough work out on it then, But, its finding time atm, as I'm also working out a mordern mechanics system for it for my cyberpunk group (I really love cyberpunk too, but the mechanics are really bad...). The planescape conversion should be easier in a sense, a lot less knacks to figure out (dnd players read skills), plus faction abilities are simply 'secert' socitiy advantages that can be purpcased ingame with xp (my group uses the 3x HP [HP - hero points, what you use at character creation] cost for advantages in game)..

Just a quick question, does anyone on these boards have much experience with L5R rp, as they use the same mechanics pretty much and have slightly more magic (the magic is still my primary concern with an XKY system)....as any input would be great!

Kal

Been a while seince I've played shadowrun....

Anyways, started hacking out some new stuff, but, best of all, I've got what I hope will be a good working magic sorted, just need to bulk out the magic, plus I've included psionics into the core of the system to give me 3 primary types of magic - arcane/divine/psionic.

Once I get a neat document done of the overall system (hopefully about 2 weeks time), I'll shout

If anyone is familiar with 7thsea/L5R mechanics and thinks they have a good idea to put into the melting pot, please post away

Kal

As a brief online of the magic system:-

At character creation, chaarcters can choose to take Greater or Lesser magic in one type/style of magic (same as Full/half blooded in 7th sea).

The three primary types of magic are Arcane, Divine, and Psioinc.

These act as skills, much the same as 7th sea. All these magic types share some basic knacks:-

Detect Magic - a perception knackused to sense magic, not a spell anymore.

Counter Magic - a defence knackthat is both active and passive (much like footwork form 7th sea), that only works for the character

Dispel Magic - knack used to dispel magic already active, TN is set by orignal casters knack rank.

Enchanting - use to determine how well a magic user can create magic items. Limits enchantment/enhancement values and spells that can be used to make items.

Arance Magic also has Arcane Lore basic knack - pretty much knowledge(arcane) from dnd.

Divine Magic has Theology basic knack - pretty much knowledge (religion) from dnd

Psioinc Magic same the equivelent knack, though I havent come up with a name for it yet.

Now advanced knacks and spells (from this point on, I will replace the word spell with the word magic. Spell refers specially to arcane magics. Blessing refers to Divine MAgic and Power refer to psionic magic).

Arcane Spells are sorted into Schools (the standard ones from 3.5E dnd), which function as advanced knacks. For example, a character could have Evocation rank 3, Transmutation rank 2 and Conjuration rank 4. Each rank of a school has a few spells available to it. When a character gain a rank in a school, he automatically recieves one spell from it. He can then choose to spend XP or HP (Hero Points, used at character creation) to learn additional spells from thats schools rank(s) that he knows. For exmaple, if a charatcer just had Evoication rank 3, he would automatically know a spell single of rank 1, a single spell of rank 2 and a single spell of rank 3.

Divine Blerssings are handled similiary, but are sorted by Domain (instead of schools) and function the same. (As an aside, if a character purchases memebership in a gods chruch, he buys the god's domain cheaper). Psionic's are the same, expect they are sorted by Discipline.

To cast a magic:-

To cast any magic, the caster needs to make a casting roll (intelligence + school/domain/discipline) with a TN equal to 5 x (magic rank +1). If they are successful, the magic works, assuming that the above roll is also good enough to get past their targets passive defences. Some knacks can be used as passive and active defences to avoid magical attacks. If the target fails, then the works affects the target as its magic description.

As an aside, in comparasion to normal dnd, a caster can cast his most powerful magic as often as he likes. This is to keep it inline with the fact that a fighter can laways attack at his best.

Side note 2:- each of the 3 primary Magic types also have the basic knack Universal([tpye of magic]), eg Universal (divine), Universal (arcnae) and Universal (psionic). These fuction like the advanced knacks, providing the character with basic spells/blessings/psioincs that almost every magic user of that type would have.

Side Note 3 :- I call these primary as it fits in with planescape well and these are the 3 big magic types, but there are others as well. Shadow magic, is a dervation of arcane magic, has its own Skill, and its magics are sorted into Paths (much like in Tome of Magic). There is True Name Magic, which is a form of pure magic (havent done anything for this yet). Also, there is Artificer Magic, originally from the Dwarvesn Runesmiths, that is very good at creating magic items, but its infusion casting is very slow (1 round instead of one action).

Side Note 4:- many of the Divine feats from normal 3.5E dnd I am intending to convert into unvieral (divine) blessings.

Well thats it for now. Sorry if this is a bit confusing, but I'm still working in rough atm myself. Also, sorry if you dont play 7th sea and find this even more confusing.

Kal

Update was well recieved and the game went well.

Check out Planescape: The Chronicles of Chaos for a miniblog of the campaign.

Kal